PORT ANGELES — Passage of the city’s $109.6 million budget for 2016 turned on a minuscule but emotionally charged 0.014 percent of the spending plan.
Faced with a flood of support for the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, City Council members on Tuesday unanimously restored $16,200 in funding to the animal shelter group for next year in a one-time allocation before speaking again with one voice by approving next year’s budget.
Their decision left the organization, as of Tuesday, with $65,000 from the city in the second year of a three-year contract that ends at the end of 2017 — and has no guarantee of full funding for 2017.
That’s a 22 percent increase from $53,400 in 2015 but conforms to the city’s original agreement with the organization.
Earlier this year, during priority-setting discussions on the 2016 preliminary budget, council members decided to reduce funding to community groups such as the humane society to balance the spending plan.
The council ranked public safety as a top priority and money for outside agencies as the lowest priority during meetings that drew little public reaction.
It was part of a newly created matrix the council employed that ranked program spending from lowest to highest priority.
But council members Tuesday said it was important for the city to fund the organization in 2016 under its contract with the city and that the allocation provides for animal control as a public-safety measure in accordance with city and state laws.
“This is in our city code and I wasn’t aware of that and I would have scored the humane society higher,” Councilwoman Cherie Kidd said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We do have not only responsibility to the community but we have the authority for public safety that’s very important.”
During a break in the council meeting, City Manager Dan McKeen said humane society funding was the lone issue to resolve for the council to pass the 2016 budget.
McKeen said the city is not mandated to provide animal-shelter services.
“If it was a mandate, it would have been presented differently during the priority-setting process,” McKeen said, adding, “although obviously, it’s important to the community.”
The city code says the city “may” contract with an animal shelter for shelter services.
“This is not a legal issue at all,” City Attorney Bill Bloor said Wednesday.
“It’s a political question.”
Mayor Dan Di Guilio said in an interview earlier this week that the agreement allows for reduced funding if the city lacks the resources.
And at Tuesday’s meeting, he said he had reservations about funding the humane society, given the council’s list of priorities.
But he made it past his doubts.
“These are living documents, and they can change,” said Di Guilio, whose last City Council meeting is Dec. 15. Di Guilio did not run for reelection in the Nov. 3 general election; Michael Merideth will take his Position 5 seat.
“Our not following to the exact letter of the priority list is acceptable for a planning model that allows for change,” Di Guilio said.
To restore the funding, city finance department staff had offered options that would have reduced line items for travel and training and for office supplies.
But they recommended a third approach: juggling real estate excise tax revenues that the department said were stronger than expected over the last two years.
To fully fund the humane society, the tax revenue will provide a partial city match for a federal Land Access Program grant.
That would free up general fund money that had provided the match and would cover the humane society’s $16,200 gap.
The budget, which includes $19.8 million for general fund, day-to-day non-utility operations, will shrink by 26.3 percent compared to the $146.4 million 2015 amended budget.
City officials faced a $940,000 shortfall in August, the majority of which consisted of $660,000 in lost electric tax revenue fueled by Nippon Paper Industries’ shutdown of one of two paper mill runs.
The plan does include grant-dependent projects, including $453,000 to replace Civic Field lighting, but no major road repair projects.
It also includes cuts in youth and family programs.
At the meeting Tuesday, online newspaper publisher Peter Ripley said it was laudable that the council was funding the humane society but urged it not to forget city residents who are on low-income assistance programs and “those living under bridges, living in tunnels.”
Councilman Lee Whetham also criticized lack of funding to repair tennis courts in Shane Park.
But humane society funding grabbed the hearts and minds of the public Tuesday to the point that Di Guilio urged those in the packed council chambers to “speak to other parts of the budget” given that the “Humane Society dialogue has taken over the hearing.”
“One of the hallmarks of a great community is how they take care of those who can’t speak for themselves,” said Jim Hallett, Port of Port Angeles board president and a former City Council member.
Nippon human resources manager Kathy Price,who criticized city officials Tuesday for blaming budget woes on Nippon, said curtailing Humane Society funding would have a detrimental impact.
Suzy Zustiak, veterinarian and manager at the humane society shelter west of Port Angeles, said the facility receives more than dogs and cats.
“Right now, we have 14 gerbils and a hamster that has lost 90 percent of its hair,” Zustiak said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
